Marriage is an intimate form of teamwork, and think about the incredible amount of intentional effort required for just two people to walk together, in the same direction, committed to the same values, for one purpose, mutually sacrificing for the greater good, for a very long time, and able to enjoy it.
Just soak that in for a minute.
It’s no wonder that achieving great teamwork with dozens or hundreds of people (multiple teams) is an extraordinary accomplishment requiring something much greater than casual leadership.
Teams can soar to great heights of achievement because of great vision, talent, alignment and commitment. They can also crash because they are fully human.
Great teams are more likely to sustain successful outcomes if they have a strong foundation.
A strong team foundation includes three vital fundamentals:
An incredibly clear vision, backed by burden and passion.
There is a significant difference between a smart vision and a heart vision. A smart vision may be strategically sound and that’s good, but a heart vision is birthed by a burden. That’s what keeps you going through the tough times.
A steadfast alignment to an intentional culture.
Every great team must know who they are, what they believe and what they value. That’s the cultural glue that holds them together, and trust is the bond that allows for deep commitment.
A fierce focus on your priorities.
We all have pet projects that we love, but disciplined teams that make things happen set aside their personal preferences and stick with the playbook. Everyone aligned to a few priorities accomplishes much.
We’ve got to know what we’re expected to do and stick to it.
I wish I was a gifted musician, but I must settle for appreciating the great talent in the best bands, orchestras, and any combination of musicians that move the heart and our feet!
The bigger the band the more complex the teamwork.
An orchestra is a great illustration. There’s a major difference between a band with five artists, regardless of how gifted they are, and a full orchestra with as many as one hundred skilled musicians.
Each musician in the orchestra must play their part, at exactly the right time, with the right tone, volume and intonation. There may be a virtuoso violinist that brings something very special, but everyone matters. In fact, if just one or two are missing, a good conductor immediately knows it.
Combining rising talent and virtuoso talent to create an extraordinary symphony (teamwork) requires highly intentional leadership.
A symphony is a musical composition for an orchestra, usually with several movements or large sections.
We experience something very similar when building a team to create ministry that moves the heart and changes lives.
4 vital components to build a great team:
1) Individual skill
Every team member must be able to play their part. The team makes each of us better, but if teammates must continually cover for someone, or carry them, the team leader must have the wisdom and courage to solve the problem.
One of the best ways to stay in front of these difficult situations is to make the best decisions possible about who you invite to join your team. Don’t allow pressure to give permission for lowering standards or cutting corners. Do your best to find the best.
The overall body of Christ is not an exclusive club, all are welcome. However, your leadership team must be hand-selected with great care. We are tempted to select people largely because we like them, but skill is essential.
A simple yet great question to ask about the skill of someone on your team is, “How do they make the team better?”
2) Practice to improve
Every person on the team must have talent and skill, but to remain on the team we must continue to improve that skill. That’s the only way an organization can become stronger and continue to grow.
Even a first chair violinist must practice what they can’t do until they can. It may be an extraordinarily difficult symphony that requires countless hours of diligent work to master it. Without that improvement, the music will never be all that it can be and in time becomes mechanical and stale.
Like with a musical instrument, as a leader you practice what you can’t do until you can. From discernment to communication and from recruiting to strategic thinking, what are you practicing so you increase your value on the team?
Think back six months ago, or a year, what are you better at now than you were then?
3) Team alignment
It would be unheard of for each musician in a professional orchestra to play whatever rendition of the symphony they want, choosing their own key and playing at their preferred tempo.
Yet, it surprises me how often we see it in the church. We used to call it “siloed ministry,” now we refer to it as issues of alignment, but at its core it’s the same thing – team members doing their own thing.
An independent spirit and resistance to team alignment never works for the good of the whole and certainly not for the greater progress of the vision.
Great team alignment starts with attitude – a willingness to live within the code of the team. It continues with behavior – a commitment to “run the play” that helps the organization make measurable progress toward the vision.
4) Layered leadership
The conductor of an orchestra has a great deal of influence and is often in the spotlight, but alone creates no music. The same is true for those of us who lead. It takes the entire team to make ministry happen well.
Therefore, it requires layers of leadership.
It’s often the layers that make great teamwork so challenging, and the larger the team, the more layers we encounter.
Leading through layers is different than leading by sight.
Leading by sight is only one layer deep.
You can see who is there, who is missing, who is new, who is serving, who needs help or training, etc. But when leading through layers you depend on others and that requires increased effort and energy into communication, expectations, systems and measurement of outcomes.
The privilege of leading a team carries great responsibility, and the reward is deep relationships and the accomplishment of the vision.
